Nurses’ union rejects agreement in principle

Ruby Pratka, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

editor@qctonline.com

Representatives of the province’s largest nurses’ union will return to the negotiating table after members rejected an agreement in principle.

The Fédération interprofessionnelle de la santé du Québec (FIQ) represents 80,000 public sector nurses, nursing assistants, respiratory therapists and IV technicians around the province. After 15 months of negotiations, the FIQ head office announced on March 21 that an agreement-in-principle had been reached. Although FIQ president Julie Bouchard emphasized that it was up to the members to accept or reject the agreement, the union pointed out in a statement at the time that the agreement contained “several steps forward,” specifically regarding salaries and changes to rules around compulsory overtime and compulsory reassignment.

However, the agreement stopped short of what many members wanted. After the results of local votes were tallied in the wee hours of the morning of April 13, the union announced that 61 per cent of voting members had rejected the agreement. Voter turnout was estimated at 77 per cent.

“Our members have spoken: they want to be considered, respected, while having better working conditions. Although they know that a collective agreement cannot solve all the problems of the public health network, they have lost confidence in the government and their managers. We call on leaders to listen to them and bring solutions to the table that will truly improve the daily lives of our members and recognize their expertise as well as the specificities of their work,” Bouchard said in a statement. “This vote means three things: our members are determined to see their working conditions improve. They believe that they have suffered for too long from a completely disorganized health network. They want to break with the culture of doing more with less and obtain full recognition of the value of their work and their expertise.”

Bouchard later told reporters she was “disappointed” that members turned the agreement down, but that she acknowledged that “60,000 people have told us something is missing.” The FIQ plans to consult its members over the next few weeks before resuming negotiations with the government. Although members backed a strike mandate last fall and held several nonconsecutive strike days, it’s unclear whether members are willing to go that far in the next few weeks. “It will be up to the members how far they want to go with that,” Bouchard said.

“We note the rejection of the agreement in principle by the members of the FIQ. We are going to meet with the union to understand what is wrong. However, our objectives will remain the same, particularly in terms of flexibility,” Quebec Treasury Board president Sonia LeBel wrote on X (formerly Twitter) shortly after the results were announced.